Contact:Shari Ireton
University of Washington School of Law
206.685.9002

2008-05-22

UW School of Law hosts conference in honor of Norm Maleng

The UW School of Law will host a day-long conference on Friday, May 30, 2008 titled "The Prosecutorial Ethic" as a tribute to the late King County Prosecutor and law school alumnus Norm Maleng in Room 138 of William H. Gates Hall on the UW campus. Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago), and former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington John McKay will speak about high profile cases at the event.

In Chicago, Fitzgerald supervised the continuing public corruption investigation known as Operation Safe Road, which resulted in 73 convictions. Prior to coming to Chicago, Fitzgerald served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney
for the Southern District of New York for 13 years.

McKay served as U.S. Attorney from October 2001 through December 2006 and is currently a professor of law at Seattle University.

Maleng, King County Prosecutor from 1978 until his death in 2007, was one of the most highly regarded leaders in the community and legal profession.
He graduated from the UW in 1960 with a degree in Economics and then the UW School of Law in 1966.
Maleng worked as a staff attorney for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce,
chaired by Senator Warren Magnuson then returned to Seattle where he worked in private practice
and later was appointed chief deputy of the civil division of the King County Courthouse.
As King County prosecutor, Maleng was responsible for more than 10,000 adult felony prosecutions a year.
He was the prosecutor in a number of high-profile cases, most notably the 1983 Wah Mee massacre,
the July 2006 Seattle Jewish Federation shooting, and the Gary Ridgway (a.k.a. the Green River killer)
murders. The latter case brought him national attention when Norm decided to not seek the death
penalty in exchange for information about the women Ridgway killed.